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tv   Weekends With Alex Witt  MSNBC  April 20, 2013 4:00am-5:00am PDT

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stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. the boston bombing saga. it came to an end in a flash last night but this morning there is an array of new information, so what is next? what are police learning from the suspect who's still alive and in the hospital this morning? and why didn't they read him his rights when arrested. and a new twist. the older brother suspected in the bombing was questioned by the fbi a few years back. why? and did another country warn the u.s. about him? good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." it is both a day of relief and mystery.
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while the immediate danger seems passed, many questions remain unanswered at this hour. first, the very latest now, the young man behind a massive manhunt that left the city of boston virtually paralyzed is in police custody this morning at a hospital. police say 19-year-old dzhokhar tsarnaev is in serious condition at beth israel medical center. he was capittured last night afr he was found hiding in a boat parked outside of that home in watertown. that homeowner called police after he noticed blood on the boat, and spotted someone curled up inside. >> the community stood strong. it was a call from a resident in watertown, we actually remained vigilant and you did. we got that call and we got the guy. >> and that's what happened later. crowds gathering in the streets and cheering after the police announced the capture. president obama then addressed the nation.
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>> boston police and state police and local police across the commonwealth of massachusetts responded with professionalism, and bravery over five long days. and tonight, because of their determined efforts, we've closed an important chapter in this tragedy. >> now, the other suspect that's dzhokhar's older brother, 26-year-old tamerlan tsarnaev was killed friday during a confrontation with police. authorities in boston suspended all mass transit friday and warned roughly 1 million people to stay indoors as the hunt for the remaining suspect played out. the brothers are the suspects in monday's marathon -- boston rather marathon bombings that killed three people and injured more than 180 others. the men are also suspected of killing an m.i.t. police officer while sitting in his vehicle friday night. let's go to watertown. nbc's luke russert is outside the hospital where the suspect is right now. good morning to you. take us through exactly how this
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19-year-old suspect was caught? what are the details you've learned about how all this went down? >> well, it's an absolutely fascinating story, alex. as you know, yesterday the entire city of boston, a town of 625,000 people, as well as the surrounding metropolitan area of about 2 million, was put on lockdown. people were told not to go outside of their homes. around about 6:30 p.m. last night, governor deval patrick lifted that, and shortly thereafter, about a half hour, some folks who were inside their house throughout the day went outside in their backyard and they noticed that the boat that they kept in their backyard, there was a little bit of blood on this tarp. they thought it was odd. why would there be blood on the tarp of the boat in the backyard of their home. they called the police. the police had moved on that boat and noticed there was an individual inside of it who was sort of hiding underneath there. and eventually started making their move. it was about an hour and a half, two hour standoff. we learned that that negotiator was involved.
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there apparently were some shots exchanged. then, the suspect was able to be apprehended by, really a joint force of secret service agents, atf, boston police, fbi, really everyone out there. state police officials tell us that we actually, in fact, lost a lot of blood. that is why they had to bring him here to this hospital. it's unclear where exactly the injury came to the suspect. but now he's in the hospital, behind me, which is under heavy, heavy lock and key. we just saw a lot of the doctors going in there for their morning shift. all their i.d.s are being checked right now, alex. he's in this hospital behind me, which coincidentally, is actually the hospital where his brother was pronounced deceased yesterday morning. so he's here now. they're deferring all questions to the authorities. they're not going to give us a real update on his condition. we were told it was stable. aside from that. but where it goes from here, the fbi obviously wants him to
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survive. they want him to get healthy, because they have a lot of questions. was your brother radicalizing you? do you have conversations before? things of that nature. they really hope he can come to. >> you know, luke, his brother was found with ieds strapped to his body. in that shoot-out that happened in the early morning hours of friday. do we know anything about the condition in which dzhokhar was recovered? were there bombs near him? was there anything like an ied strapped to him? >> there were -- there was a worry that the reason why they sort of that standoff took so long was because he may have had explosives. those questions are still sort of outstanding. much as we do when we have these types of stories, there's that fog of war mentality. we hear many different things. as of right now we don't necessarily know that he had concrete explosives. we do know, though, he was armed. he was dangerous.
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apparently he did exchange gunfire. that he was not someone who wanted to surrender very easily. so, he -- i think it's fair to say he put up a very tough fight to the bitter end, until he was ultimately apprehended. which goes against all these stories we've been hearing from his colleagues that he was a very calm guy, you know, enjoyed video games and soccer. >> yeah. i want to ask you, it took so many hours to find him. is it true that he actually was found just outside of the perimeter that the police established? i mean they did -- i think it was a 20-block radius, they were focusing on that, and this house on franklin street was just to the side of it. is that true? >> it's true. and, alex, that is one of the more remarkable things. i think that's something a lot of us have questions about. is, okay, he and his brother were involved in this firefight in the suv which they carjacked. there were dozens upon dozens of law enforcement officials exchanging gunfire with him.
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apparently they got out of the suv, then back into it, his brother was shot, wounded, almost killed, then they sort of drove -- he drove that suv himself away from there. and then fled on foot. but the question remains, how is somebody who is a 19-year-old kid, with no formal military training, who obviously was wounded, from what we know that he's here at the hospital, how he's able to evade capture for that long. apparently he used the cover of nightfall to find that boat, get underneath that tarp, and just sat there, and it was very, very close to where that incident had occurred. just a matter of blocks. in fact, our own kerry sanders yesterday had been in that vicinity for the duration of the day, and we knew this was starting to happen when kerry sanders goes we just heard gunshots. we just heard gunshots, folks moving a few blocks up. quite remarkable that he was able to evade capture, wounded, with no formal military training. that's certainly a question a lot of people are going to have moving forward. >> okay. luke russert outside of beth israel medical center.
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thank you so much. joining me on the phone right now, former fbi profiler and nbc analyst clint van zandt. clint, talk about those questions that luke was raising. how this guy was able to evade capture. i mean, when law enforcement puts in a perimeter, what's the criteria in judging how far to go? >> well, alex, you normally have two different perimeters. you have an outer perimeter that is -- you believe is the furthest distance out that either the subject could go or that his weapons would be functional. and then you have an inner perimeter, if you know exactly where he's at. and again, watching and listening last night, it sounds like that this 20 block perimeter that they threw around was, you know, should have been 21 blocks. that somehow, where the vehicle was abandoned, and the shooter, the subject took off running, he must have been at a dead run in
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the middle of the night, and got far enough away, found this boat, and was able to hide. and the boston police commissioner had suggested he may have been in that boat from the time of the shooting, till the time that the fbi finally took him out of that boat. >> clint, i'm sorry. my ifb dropped out. are you still with me on the phone? okay. i don't think we have a connection with clint van zandt right now. a little bit of technical difficulties. we're going to try and reconnect with clint. but for recapping for all of you, this all went down last night. really shortly after 9:00 p.m. was when dzhokhar tsarnaev was taken into custody and the result was quite extraordinary. people were cheering in the streets. i think probably cheers all over this nation for the end of this really a reign of terror for some 24 hours for the city of boston and its suburbs.
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but also, really since monday. let's go right now and talk about what the investigators are going to do as they get to the bottom of everything. the next move with mark rossini, he helped create the national counterterrorism center. thank you for joining me all the way from paris. we appreciate that. let's talk about what will happen with dzhokhar tsarnaev, now going to be questioned by the elite 450i value detainee interrogation group made up of a bunch of high-ranking officials, fbi, cia, defense department. beyond the obvious of why, mark, what are the first questions they will ask him? >> well, beyond the why, of course, is who directed you? did you do this upper the direction of a foreign government or foreign service group and then the questions will go from there. were you funded by any organization or group? what did you seek to gain by doing this atrocity? et cetera, et cetera. go down the line. they'll also want to know, more
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importantly, is well the web. who they contacted. who else knew in the u.s.? did they have any aid and support right there in the boston area or anywhere else in the united states of america or around the world? >> mark, unfortunately, i'm not sure you can hear me. at all. >> i can hear you now. >> guys we're having some technical difficulties. >> i can hear you now. >> try this and see. >> i apologize for that. >> mark, i don't think you need to apologize for anything. i think we're having some technical difficulties here. i've gone through three ifbs to try and hear you. let's talk a little bit about the chechen groups. anything verified? anything with other foreign terrorists, rather? are investigators trying to identify any possible links? or they think this was an isolated couple of men on a reign of terror? >> well, again, we -- we don't know that, alex, at this point in time. here's what investigators have to do. once they go through his
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e-mails, his phone calls, his text messages and his travel, and more importantly, what's going to be key is the foreign government that did request the fbi to investigate him. how did that foreign government come to learn about him? was it a foreign government monitoring a group in chechnya? maybe that foreign government had people in its own country that were interacting with people in chechnya. we just don't know. all those variables have to come out. we have to understand that this gentleman perhaps -- yes. >> go ahead. continue. i'm sorry. >> okay. no, we have to understand that perhaps he directed -- he acted at the direction of a foreign government or a foreign terrorist organization. and his links to that organization, and their -- their members worldwide, that's what we have to get to the bottom of right away to see if it's going to be any subsequent attacks. i am very curious as to how he came on the radar in the first place of the other foreign government. that will be very, very telling.
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>> i absolutely agree you with, mark. what about the six months that he spent out of the country, which was from january through july of 2012. he went to russia. do we have any way of tracking where he went from there? what he was doing? was he going through sort of some insurgency documentation? i mean, training. how do we know what he was doing? >> right. and that's only going to come out through logical, methodical investigation that will come after this. i'm sure the fbi will send a team over to russia, speak with the embassy to get to the bottom of his activities. u.s. government, of course, has extreme resource to determine how he spent his money, where he traveled, and that would be correlated as well. there will be a full scrub on his total activity from the day he left to the day he got back to the u.s. i can guarantee you that. >> mark, do you think it is unreasonable to work off of the presumption that when the older
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brother came back, he'd been indoctrinated of sorts and that dzhokhar, the surviving younger brother, may have been merely influenced by his older brother. because there's no evidence to suggest that he ever went outside the country, that he was seeking sort of an insurgency, or terrorism training and immersing himself in that lifestyle. >> well, i didn't hear your total question. but if i understand it correctly, i think your premise is correct. the older brother went away, he became radicalized, he clearly, my opinion, became radicalized or had radical thoughts before he went away in the first place. that's what motivated him. he turned to religion, we know that extensively a few years ago, was starting to pray five times a day. which is not an indicator of any terrorist activity, by the way. but the older brother goes away, he comes back, he perhaps persuaded or cajoled his younger brother into the activity. we just don't know until we hear from the younger brother as to what went on, the conversations.
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there is a mystery. but i think your premise is correct, alex. again heard the totality of your question, that the older brother perhaps was the motivator, instigator of the younger brother. >> that exactly was it. mark, i'm curious, how is this playing out where you are in paris? to what extent were people following this? >> well it's funny. all my friends knowing of my background and being an american are very, very sympathetic, and they shake their head in disgust, and really just pray that thisability does not happen over here. because as you know, france has its own issues when it comes to radical fundamentalism. and they are on edge, no question about it. >> all right. mark rossini, many thanks for talking with us from paris. sorry for the technical difficulties. we're going to hear from nbc's pete williams on the investigation coming up next. everyone's hair breaks.
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several new questions this morning now that suspect number two in the boston marathon bombings is in custody. 19-year-old dzhokhar tsarnaev is currently in serious condition at beth israel medical center. so for more on what is next i'm joined by nbc justice correspondent pete williams. good morning to you after a very long day. and bravo for your work done yesterday. where do authorities go from here? >> well the justice department says it intends to put tsarnaev on trial in a regular civilian court with all the rules that would apply in any criminal trial. and that is renewing the debate about how to try terrorists on american soil. as soon as he is physically ready dzhokhar tsarnaev will be subjected to questioning by federal authorities. but in the beginning, he will not be given the usual miranda warning about the right to remain silent. instead, the government will invoke a rule that allows questioning a suspect without giving advice of rights.
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>> there is a public safety exemption in cases of national security, and central charges involving acts of terrorism, and so government has that opportunity right now. >> the government invoked that same rule in the case of the so-called underwear bomber. as in his case, it allows questioning to learn of any potential plots or accomplices that could present a continuing threat. >> the first questions the fbi will focus on are specific threats that he might be aware of. likely, are there any other improvised explosive devices? were there other people working in the network? the sorts of things that go directly to whether or not there's a continuing threat to public safety. >> reporter: he'll face charges brought by the justice department, because terrorism is a federal crime with a trial in a regular civilian court. and as in other high profile terrorism cases, some republicans in congress say that's the wrong legal path. senator lindsey graham of south carolina has said tsarnaev should be questioned by u.s. intelligence agencies.
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and then put on trial before a military commission, perhaps even at guantanamo bay in cuba. the obama administration has insisted that criminal trials can be just as effective, and tsarnaev is an american citizen, which could complicate putting him in a military court. the actual filing of criminal charges. that could come quite quickly. even within the next day or so. and the -- he would then appear before a federal magistrate. if he is not well enough to leave the hospital, that hearing could actually be done in his hospital room. alex? >> okay, pete, so what point does he get an attorney? >> well, he gets a lawyer during this questioning process for the next 48 hours. under this rule. he has no right to the miranda right. once he exercises his miranda warning, though -- once he exercises his miranda rights he has the choice to stop answering questions. but what the justice department says is, most people in these cases, surprisingly enough, continue to talk anyway.
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but if he says i'm not going to talk, then they have to stop the questioning. >> hmm. it's interesting, i know that you heard the coverage with his uncle speaking to him, saying give up, ask for forgiveness. pete, i think -- are you still hearing me, pete? nope. >> oh, there i hear you now. sorry. i hear you now. >> oh, you can hear me now. little bit of technical difficulty. but it's the kind of thing that asking for forgiveness. i guess i ask from a broader justice perspective. if he does cooperate, despite the heinous nature of the activities that he will, in all likelihood be accused of, murder, the mayhem, the terrorism in the bombing of the boston marathon, is there anything for him to be gained from a legal perspective by cooperation? >> well, he avoids the death penalty. which -- well although in the federal case, i'm not sure about this, whether he can face the death penalty or not. i've got to go read the statute
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again, because strangely enough, the federal government cannot charge him with the deaths of the three people at the boston marathon. those could be charged by the boston authorities. but, you know, he'll be charged with use of a weapon of mass destruction. which may or -- which could certainly provide a penalty of life in prison but there may or may not be the death penalty. but they could certainly try to make it worth his while. and strangely enough, in many of these cases, the defendants end up pleading guilty. >> hmm. very interesting. pete williams, many thanks, as always. >> you bet. >> what it was like to be on lockdown in boston all day. plus more on the discovery that changed everything in this investigation. lets. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises?
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pets ties to disputed territory of chechnya have led them to violence? andrea mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent, joins me, and andrea with a good morning to you. what are you hearing about this connection with chechnya? >> we don't know. it would be so surprising. there has never before that anyone knows of been a chechen terrorist attack against the u.s. chechen separatists and, as you know, it is the disputed territory in the north caucasus mountains. it's an area that tried twice to fight wars of independence against the russian federation after the soviet union broke up. and failed. they were put down, suppressed heavily with the might of the russian federation, led by vladimir putin. he actually came to power partly because he was so tough against the chechen separatists. but their beef has not been against the united states. so the question now is when dzhokhar tsarnaev is medically able to talk and can be questioned, and if he talks, was
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that what motivated his brother? because most people who know both brothers believe that he was following in his brother's footsteps. it was his brother who went outside the country for since months last year. and there are going to be questions about the fbi. because they spoke to him both before and significantly, we've learned, after he returned. and why didn't they pick up whatever terrorist motivation was going on? why didn't -- why weren't they tracking him? why wasn't he in the data base? because we were told yesterday that they only became targets of inquiry after the boston marathon attack. he was, very interestingly, a conversation between vladimir putin and the president, president obama, last night. and after this was all going down, before the actual capture of the second suspect, they agreed to better cooperation and terrorism and counterterrorism. but there has been a lot of dispute over the years as to whether the russians are cooperating enough, and whether putin is justified in his criticism that the u.s. should not be hammering him for human
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rights abuses, or more pressuring these separatists too much. that they should understand that these are terrorists, they're not freedom fighters. >> mm-hmm. andrea, with regard to working with vladimir putin on this, how much do we need to work with him to find out specifically what was going on between january and june of last year, when the older brother was over in the russian area? >> actually i've been told that u.s. officials are aware now, and the national security adviser was in russia just earlier this week, top level talks, they're aware now that this has happened. that we need russia's cooperation more than ever. putin is certainly aware of that. so in addition to saying i told you so, these are really bad guys, not independence seekers, he will also rub that in, and withhold cooperation as much as he wants to. he's got a lot of leverage. we need his help on syria, on iran, on a host of other issues,
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and this is going to give him some additional leverage, surely. we don't know, though, whether it was the chechen motivation or something else. whether tamerlan became radicalized, became very religious as has been described. whether it was some individual motivation or an imous that motivated these two brothers to do these horrible things. >> interesting diplomatic times ahead for sure. andrea mitchell. many thanks, as always. we have many unanswered legal questions today. why didn't the police read the suspect his miranda rights? how much can they talk to him in the hospital? well, bostonians are waking up to this headline in the boston globe "nightmare's end." and the accompanying picture pretty much sums up the sentiment perfectly. a weight of relief after such a harrowing week. aaaaah! theres a guy on the window! do something, dad! aaaah! aaaah! what is happening? they're rate suckers.
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if we don't double the number of kids graduating from high school in the next 8 years, our country won't be able to compete globally. what uncle sam needs now are more good teachers. are you up for it? you can help kids graduate. the more you know. the math of retirement is different today.ek. money has to last longer. i don't want to pour over pie charts all day. i want to travel, and i want the income to do it. ishares incomes etfs. low cost and diversified. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. welcome back, everyone, to msnbc's special coverage of the capture of the boston marathon bombing suspect. here's the very latest at 33 past the hour. 19-year-old dzhokhar tsarnaev is
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in police custody this morning at boston's beth israel medical center. he is listed in serious condition. a justice department official says tsarnaev will not be read his miranda rights because the government is invoking a public safety exception there. tsarnaev was found inside a boat parked at a home in watertown yesterday evening. the homeowner had noticed some blood on the boat and then called police. and you're hearing that, which was authorities exchanging gunfire with the suspect before he was finally taken into custody and transported to the hospital. which ended a day-long ordeal that brought boston and surrounding areas to a virtual standstill. mass transit and schools were shut down. residents were ordered to stay inside while police went door-to-door looking for tsarnaev. massachusetts governor deval patrick spoke to the public after the capture. >> because of that extraordinary collaboration and cooperation by all of these law enforcement resources and assets and more to
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the point people, professionals, who brought their "a" game, we have a suspect in custody tonight. >> well, the suspect's 26-year-old brother, tamerlan tsarnaev was killed in a shoot-out early friday morning with police. so, the suspects dzhokhar taken into custody now. he is at the hospital. let's go to nbc's ron allen who is joining me with more at where he is and on his condition. ron, good morning. what are you hearing? >> good morning, alex. this is the same hospital where his brother was pronounced dead on friday morning. he is said to be in serious condition as far as we know. the hospital is not releasing much information about his condition, because it's such a sensitive matter, they're deferring all questions to the fbi. perhaps we will learn more later. we understand, however, that he suffered a tremendous amount of loss of blood. and that he was pretty much incoherent when he was captured. although he was conscious, and certainly alive. and to some extent we have no idea how cooperative he was or
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was not, and we don't know when in the process he was wounded. remember he was on the run for the better part of about 20 hours or so. and we have no idea what help he may have gotten along the way, if any. so his medical condition is really a big mystery at this point. as soon as he is able to, you can bet that authorities will be questioning him and talking to him to try to understand exactly what happened. what his motivations were. we spent the day yesterday in the neighborhood where the family lived, and it's a diverse part of cambridge that is full of people from many different parts of the world. so these are two brothers who blended in, who assimilated, who've been here about ten years or so. we know that the younger brother was a student at a campus at the university of massachusetts studying marine biology. 19 years old. by all accounts a very studious, serious young man. there are indications that he apparently was influenced to a great extent by his brother, who seems to be the more aggressive, the more radical of the two.
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and perhaps led him down this path that led to this heinous act at the boston marathon and beyond. but as soon as he is coherent, and as soon as authorities are confident that they should do this, there's no doubt that he will be charged with four counts of murder and a lot more. alex? >> indeed a lot more. okay. nbc's ron allen youth side the beth israel medical center where the suspect is being held. thank you for that. many questions for one of the men called a loser by his own uncle, and labeled a terrorist by an entire nation. joining me now is michael leiter, former director of the national counterterrorism center. let's walk through an investigation which involves two brothers who spent at least half their lives in the united states. now, being accused of terrorism. where does this -- where is the jumping-off point here. because these are, at least the surviving brother, is a u.s. citizen. >> morning, alex. first of all, the investigation really continues from everything that they've already collected. obviously they had the for ensic evidence and the surveillance
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tape. they've been exploiting the home, they've been looking at computers. and from here, it's really two basic questions. why did they do it? and was anyone else involved? and in terms of other people's involvement, not just were people directing it, but how did they become radicalized, if that turns out to be the case. with whom were they speaking? and tracking all of their financial connections, their telecommunications, to see where else they touched to make sure that the fbi understands the complete network that might exist here. >> yeah. what can they hope to learn from him though, michael? he's a 19-year-old. he's apparently, by all reports, well-adjusted to american life. perhaps not so for his older brother. what do you think they'll pick up from him? >> well, actually, a lot. and i have to say, people seem very surprised that these guys had lived in the united states for a long time, and were quite well adjusted, and integrated. that's not entirely out of character with some of the other, at least violent islamic
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extremist home grown plots that we've seen in the united states before. the times square bomber was married with two kids and had an mba. fairly successful in connecticut for a long time. obviously nidal hasan the fort hood shooter was an officer in the u.s. military. completely integrated into u.s. society. and of course domestic extremists who don't do this under the banner of al qaeda or islam have almost by definition lived in the united states and been a part of our society, and then turn against it. so, investigators, assuming he will talk, investigators will help piece together how he went from being a high school student in cambridge, mass, to someone who was willing to kill innocent civilians. >> do you think others were involved, michael? michael, it's alex. i hope you can still hear me. we're having audio difficulties today. do you think others were involved? >> i think in part it depends on
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how you define involved. in my initial take here, and what we've been told i don't think there are other people directing any of this. i think it will probably turn out that these two operated alone in that sense. but if what you mean by involved is were there other people who influenced these two to take these steps, the answer to that is almost certainly yes. we talk about lone wolves, but, in fact, lone wolves end up living in an ecosystem. and that ecosystem is about violent rhetoric. and looking at that, where they got that information, was it during a trip to russia, was it via the internet, was it via you fill in the blank. that ecosystem is incredibly important for investigators to understand to try to detect future threats like this. >> all right. michael leiter, many thanks for your keen insights. i appreciate that. >> thanks very much. while the city of boston was completely shut down following the intense manhunt for suspect number two, let's go to boston and nbc's catty tur. pretty unprecedented, right? you and i were talking at
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several points yesterday and it was rather incredulous just the ghost town environment of boston. >> you really couldn't believe it. certainly an eerie sight, alex. yesterday the streets of boston should have been teeming with commuters. there should have been tourists. there should have been people outside enjoying the weather. but instead they were hunkered down. they were staying inside, heeding orders that there was a terrorist, potentially on the loose. about 1 million people ordered to stay inside. to lock their doors. boston and its surrounding suburbs were virtually under siege. a lockdown in the suburbs, a shelter in place order for the city. >> we're asking people to shelter in place. in other words to stay indoors with their doors locked, and not to open the door for anyone other than a properly identified law enforcement officer. >> reporter: it was early friday morning when dzhokhar tsarnaev escaped a police shoot-out in watertown.
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forcing officials to shut down a 20-block radius, and demanding residents stay indoors for their own safety. >> i've just never seen it this way. i mean, even in the latest hours at night it's never this quiet. >> reporter: a mandate that extended to the greatest metropolitan area. as tsarnaev remained at large. >> the watch words, be careful. be vigilant. call police if you see anything, and just be prepared for anything. >> i mean, we can't believe it. when we woke up this morning how quiet. there was nobody on the streets. everything is closed. >> reporter: boston commons, empty. mass transit, frozen. fenway park, deserted. it was a city on edge. coffee shop owner tom barnes stood on tremont street looking for customers. by 10:00 he served five people. normally that number would be 200. >> a whole day of revenue. but, you know, if it's the safety of the people that's more
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important than a few hundred dollars. >> reporter: one young man in a baseball hat, holding nearly a million captive. the city is certainly celebrating the capture this morning, alex. as we talked about yesterday, there is also a subtle anxiety. one on the back of people's minds that just one man, just one man could cause a major metropolitan city to completely shut down. >> absolutely. you know if you think about it. just the stress. i just want to say anecdotally personally i've got some kids who are going to be coming down from college in cambridge. they need to get away from campus. they've had a really tough week and just want to get some place where everything seems to be a little bit more normal. katy tur thank you so much from boston. should suspected terrorists be tried on u.s. soil? and should dzhokhar tsarnaev be sent to guantanamo bay? wait a sec! i found our colors. we've made a decision. great, let's go get you set up... you need brushes...
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dzhokhar tsarnaev in custody but there are questions about who will be questioning him and how he may be charged. joining me with legal per specific 2i6, former u.s. prosecutor and nbc news analyst kendall coffey as well as defense attorney and former prosecutor karen desoto with a welcome to both of the you. kendall, who gets to question the suspect? >> well, right now they've lined up questions by the high value questioning group which apparently includes components of fbi, cia, and defense. they're going to be following civilian rules. but taking a very broad view of the public safety exception. so that they can question him for at least some significant period without mirandizing him. >> some significant period, karen, means how long? how can they talk to him without a lawyer? because this is civilian court that we're talking about. >> yeah, absolutely. listen, we have this public safety exception which basically says that maybe there's some explosive devices, of course, alex the problem with that is that the boston police have already said that there's no
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threat. they gave you the all-clear. obviously the federal authorities are going to say, yes, but we don't know if there's co-conspirators. we don't know if there's bombs in other people's houses. we have to ascertain that. even if it's a gun, or explosive device, they have the right to protect the obviously boston's been under lockdown. that's a very significant issue. and without that, obviously the rule of thumb is if you're in custody and you're being questioned, you have the right to be mirandized. >> but under this public safety auspices of that they want to make sure people are safe. >> correct. >> with that outer -- >> and it's very limited. it's not like we're going to put you in a room -- >> two days? eight hours? >> i don't even think he's capable of talking at this point. so obviously if he's unconscious there's going to be a problem. but yes, they can talk to him as long as it takes to ask him all of the questions. however because it's limited it's not something that's going to take a week. did you have co-conspirators? are there bombs anywhere else? and he has the right not to say anything. >> kendall, this public safety exception.
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how long has that been in existence? is this something since 9/11? >> no, it was recognized in the 1980s, in the corals decision. but it's clear in the last couple of years the obama administration wants to take a broader view of it with respect to terrorism cases. you may recall the case involved the so-called christmas day bomber, the underwear bomber, who was apparently not questioned at any length, and he was quickly mirandized. that got a firestorm of criticism from some senators, mostly republican senators, and since that time the obama administration, the attorney general, have been moving toward more aggressive use of what they can do under the public safety exception. and even without changing the law, it has a fair amount of breadth in the sense that if you ask overlapping questions, questions that could be eliciting evidence of guilt, but that also could be trying to explore links to other terrorists, links to perhaps other explosives that might have been there, other activity that's dangerous activity that
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might be under way, they could get a fair number of questions asked, and it could go on for hours before any mirandizing has to take place. >> karen, as a defense attorney, we hear that the younger brother in custody may have been may ha influenced by his older brother. >> right. >> how much does that bear on his defense or the charges that will come down? >> it's huge. >> it is? >> and the reason for that is because if there's an argument over federal and state jurisdiction, and understand in my cases a lot of the times i will file both federal and state charges together, the state court and the federal court both can try state charges and federal cases -- and federal cases. in this case if it's determined his defense attorney can make the argument that the government wasn't a target here. he was just doing what his brother told him, so, therefore, the intent is not to blow up american citizens or it's not the government. it really is him just doing what he's told. obviously there's conspiracy. obviously there's federal charges and the fact that they
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were throwing bombs out the car at federal officers. so, the state and the federal court are both well equipped to handle both charges, both sets of charges. >> okay. karen desoto, kendall coffey, thank you both so much. >> thank you. a fascinating backstory emerging this morning surrounding a boat parked in a driveway and how it provided the last chapter in the search for a terrorist. apital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button?
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just how crucial was technology as this case unfolded? well, these pictures captured by surveillance cameras at the boston marathon ultimately led to the capture of dzhokhar tsarnaev. joining me jodie warbrick national security reporter at "the washington post." i know you had an awesome breakdown of the series of event leading to the capture of these two brothers, so walk us through it. and how crucial were the security devices identifying them? >> you know, it's really a mix as far as technology goes, because, yeah, absolutely the security camera videos and still shots were incredibly good. came from many different sources
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not just law enforcement stuff but retail stores and private cameras and this is what really brought us to the suspects, but a lot of this was still old fashioned police work and some dumb luck. a guy happens to see last night some blood on a tarp on a boat and that's what leads to the break of finding the second suspect. we still need the good stuff, too. >> tell me how the boat, then, played out? that was it. do we have any idea how long dzhokhar was inside that boat? >> well, there's some speculation that perhaps not all that long. he may have divided to retreat to the boat later in the day as it started to get a bit dark, but no one really noticed for sure because people were essentially on lockdown and nobody was out inspecting that area it was outside the search zone, so no one knows exactly when he got in there. >> talk to me about the security standpoint here and you've covered so many terrorism oriented stories. how was this different? >> well, one thing that's just amazing is how quickly it was resolved. i mean, you think back to some of the other big cases, the
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anthrax case and even 9/11 where we waited for days to figure out who did this and the elaborate process of finding suspects and the prosecution, and it went from beginning to end in five days and people watching in real time, so it was real extraordinary that way and it shows sort of the power of this age of communications we're in now. >> is there nipg of the pictures, the videos that would not be potentially admissible in court here? >> yeah, i guess that's for the lawyers to determine. but i think when the suspect is finally read his miranda rights, his statements to the police will be subject to whatever discussions the attorneys have. but in terms of just physical evidence, that video material is absolutely admissible as far as i understand. >> okay. joby warrick, national security reporter at "the washington post," joby, many thanks. >> great to see you. i'll see you back here at noon eastern. up next chris jansing continues with more coverage of the boston bombing case. on the gouda. [ both ] ugh! when it came to our plants...
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